Apple's influence on gaming

Paul Tassi over at Forbes has written an article taking exception to results tabulated at the London Games Conference, where he feels Apple's influence on the gaming industry was blown way out of proportion.

Ridiculousness, plain and simple. Sure, Steve Jobs was a great tech pioneer, but giving him credit for shaping the VIDEO GAME industry more than any other figure? Are you kidding ? Though the iPhone debuted some very popular casual titles like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, they hardly invented the cell phone game, and to say that ANY mobile game is more relevant to the industry than years of console and PC titles is absolute insanity. Then to give Jobs the top honors over Gabe Newell (of Valve) and Shigeru Miyamoto (of Nintendo) is blasphemy, plain and simple. Gaming was never Jobs’ primary focus, as Macs can barely play most PC games, and only recently has the iPhone made waves in the casual games market.

iPhone's influence was pegged at 17% compared to 7% for the Wii and 3% for Xbox live. Steve Jobs at 26% vs. Gabe Newell at 16% and Shigeru Miyamoto at 7%. No doubt a lot of this can be ascribed to the familiarities and feelings of the people being surveyed, and that's the problem with popularity surveys. I love gaming on my iPhone and iPad and Apple has certainly done a lot for mobile gaming. But a greater influence than some of the other runners up mentioned above? Craziness.

Apple's influence on gaming

No doubt a lot of this can be ascribed to the familiarities and feelings of the people being surveyed, and that’s the problem with popularity surveys. I love gaming on my iPhone and iPad and Apple has certainly done a lot for mobile gaming. But a greater influence than some of the other runners up mentioned above?

I haven't touched my DS since owning an iPhone. The iPhone has most definitely had an impact on mobile gaming. But the rest of this article is filled with fanboy kool-aid stuff.
You can't simply mesh mobile gaming and home gaming into one category. To say iPhone has had an impact on PC & console gaming is a bit of a stretch.

I don't think console gaming has anything to fear from the iPhone/iPod/iPad. MS has taken great strides to morph the Xbox into a home media center. Sony is trying to do the same. That goes a long way in keeping consoles in homes. The more things they can do, the longer they'll stick around.
I don't think they would disappear completely anyway. Not everyone wants to only play touchscreen games. Even if you plug your phone into the television you would be playing a scaled up touchscreen game. Console/PC games satisfy a HUGE market that isn't going anywhere. In the future maybe a different form factor will REPLACE the console as we know it, but playing games on your television with a controller of some sort is a concept that will stay for a long time.
As far as mobile gaming, no one has had a greater impact than Apple. True they didn't invent mobile games, but so what? They didn't invent the mobile phone either but you can't deny their impact. If anything they've increased the gaming market which should make everyone happy.

Airplay -- Mirroring a driving game from a pad to a TV has had nowhere near the influence of even one of Miyamoto's creations, but Airplay has shown some potential. Check back when Airplay has contributed more to the game industry and to game design than Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, and the overall motion control scheme of the Wii combined.
Thunderbolt -- a nice piece of technology, but this is directly relevant to and influential on gaming how? Even Apple is not positioning it as a gaming tech.
Bluetooth controllers, keyboards, and mice -- now you're giving Apple credit for things that Sony and Nintendo did years ago?

So many genious things were made occassionaly and non-intentionally in our history. So the fact is fact, Apple influenced gaming. iPhone is like having XBOX or PS in your pocket and the games are mostly connected and online

(Original reply not showing up--forgive if double posted)
Airplay -- Mirroring a driving game from a pad to a TV has not had the impact of a single one of Miyamoto's creations, though it has shown potential. Check back when Airplay has had more influence on the game industry and game design than Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda, Starfox, and the basic motion control scheme of the Wii combined.
Thunderbolt -- nice technology, but directly relevant to or influential on gaming how? Even Apple is not positioning it has gaming tech.
Bluetooth controllers, keyboads, and mice -- now you are giving Apple credit for what Sony and Nintendo did years ago?

what people fail to realize is the success of the iphone is largely due to technological advances made in the electronics and gaming industries decades ago. yes, there is something to be said of one's part in maturing a technology... but c'mon. i think Jobs was brilliant just as much as the next guy but next you are going to tell me he invented the electron. all things in perspective people.

This is really a useless argument , apple is in the game by accident thanks to the iPhone . In no way shape or form are they even close to being more influential on video game history than Sega, Ea, Microsoft, Nintendo , midway . Check back in 5-10 years then we can talk about their place in video game history . All they ate now is a rookie with a lot of promise and potential

& iPhone had brought gaming to another group who would never have touched a gaming system... Certainly not the best but it definitely hit a new audience... And fair enough.. Jobs is gone so they decided to honor him...

Only the console has to worry about the mobile device, because like it, it can't be upgraded to perform better and mobile devices are becoming more powerful on a more frequent cycle. I doubt a PC gamer will drop his PC habits for a mobile device wirelessly connecting to a big screen. I could be wrong though...

Unbelievable. The godfather of gaming is Atari founder, Nolan Bushnell. Not some guy at Valve or ID software. Bushnell is not the inventor of computer gaming, but he made it popular. I'm getting sick and tired of al these nitwits who don't know what they are talking about.

Actually I think you mean Ralph Baer. He is the true godfather of video games. But to your larger point to put Steve Jobs ahead of luminaries like Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, Hideo Kojima, John Cormack, I could go on and on.
And the home console is not going to die because of the iPhone, iPod, tablet market. The same nonsense has been spouted when TV came along - radio was dead. Wrong! Internet was going to kill TV - Wrong again! Wait wait wait... DLC is going to kill cable/satellite/TV/retail games... ummmmm WRONG AGAIN! Today's tech is not remotely enough to wipe out the staples of tech people have depended on for decades.

People don't by an iPhone to game on. They buy it because it is a great phone and while they are at it, they download a few games that they play when they have nothing better to do while waiting in a line, riding on a bus ect. Apple hasn't revolutionized gaming. The iPhone is the worst gaming device known to man. It has one freaking button for gods sake. It is just provides a convenient way to waste time playing really bad games. The console and PC will never go away for doing real gaming. Angry Birds is a joke of a game.